By Anthony Searle

The High Court has held in Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Brown [2018] EWHC 2046 (Admin) that qualified one-way costs shifting (‘QOCS’) protection does not apply automatically in proceedings where a claimant is advancing both a claim for damages for personal injury and a claim other than a claim for damages for personal injury (a ‘mixed claim’).

By way of reminder, the QOCS regime is contained at CPR 44.13-44.17. Notably, CPR 44.16 provides exceptions that permit a defendant to enforce a costs order with the permission of the court. The third exception, at CPR 44.16(2 (b), is as follows:

(2) Orders for costs made against the claimant may be enforced up to the full extent of such orders with the permission of the court, and to the extent that it considers just, where

(b) a claim is made for the benefit of the claimant other than a claim to which this Section [i.e. the QOCS regime] applies.